Pixelized
by LinesofLightning812
Summary: Axel and Roxas are joking around with the brand new Apple computer , when POW! Axel, Roxas, Sora, and Riku, are seperated from Kairi and Namine, and suddenly whisked away to an unknown place.... Please comment!
1. The Apple

DISCLAIMER: _This is the story of a girl, who cried a river and drowned the whole world_…because, sadly, she does not own Kingdom Hearts…

Chapter One, The Apple

"Ha! Take that, Axel!" Roxas hollered triumphantly. His sapphire eyes glittered in the joy of victory. Axel, however, was looking angry, but determined, his emerald eyes fixed on the computer screen in front of him, where his blood red convertible was hopelessly ensnared in a bush, while the words "GAME OVER" flashed on the screen.

"Aww, C'mon, best two out of three?"

Roxas smiled as his dark green car did a lap of honor. "You're on! I can keep beating you all day!"

"We'll see about that," said Axel, rebooting the game.

"Are you two playing that dumb car racing game _again_?" asked Namine, walking into the room.

"Riku was playing Madden 2006 for, like, six hours yesterday," replied Axel, preferring not to answer the question. Namine's sky blue eyes narrowed in frustration as she swept a strand of light blonde hair out of her face. She folded her arms across her chest. "Yes, but Riku was also the only one who could get this computer to work," she reminded them.

Roxas looked up sheepishly. "Sorry, Namine. We'll be off in a few minutes, okay?"

Judging by Namine's furious expression, this was not okay, but she simply muttered to herself "I knew that getting an Apple computer was a big mistake," and sat down on the couch to wait for Roxas to finish his next game against Axel. As Roxas and Axel began their next game, however, they were interrupted once more.

"Hey, has anyone seen Sora around?" asked Kairi, walking through the door, which Namine had left wide open. Axel shook his vividly red head no, never once taking his eyes of the computer screen. Roxas, on the other hand, paused the game and looked up at her. Realizing that his car couldn't crash into anything when the game was paused, Axel also turned to look up at Kairi.

"He's not here," Axel stated bluntly. Playing the computer all morning had made him feel a little stupid.

"Way to point out the obvious, Axel. I was wondering if you could tell me where he is," Kairi said, her aqua eyes narrowing in irritation.

" I **could**," said Axel with a smirk "But whether or not I **will **is another matter entirely.

Kairi put her hands on her hips, not in the mood to put up with Axel's crap. "Do you know where he is, Axel?"

Axel continued to smile "No but if I did know, I could tell you, but I don't, so I can't, but if I knew, I could."

Kairi turned away from Axel in disgust. "Roxas, you don't know where he is, do you? He's been missing all morning!"

Roxas shook his head "Sorry, Princess," He said, using a nickname that he had begun calling her because of the fact that she was a princess of heart. "I haven't seen him either,"

" That's because you've been in here all morning playing video games!" scolded Namine, while Roxas looked rather ashamed. Namine then turned to Kairi "I haven't seen him around either."

"Seen who?" asked Sora, walking in the room with a bitten apple in one hand and his keyblade, Oathkeeper, in the other.

"You!" exclaimed Kairi, giggling a little. " Where've you been all morning?"

"Riku and I were practicing fighting, and it took a longer than we thought," said Sora apologetically. His brown semi-spiked hair and robin's egg blue eyes gave him a cute, innocent appearance, as though he were merely fourteen instead of nearly seventeen.  
"Riku needs all the practice he can get," snickered Axel.

"Actually, I won," said Riku coolly, walking in behind Sora, keyblade still in hand.

Axel raised his eyebrows, and opened his mouth, probably to make some sort of sarcastic comment, but Roxas spoke before Axel could say a word. "Come on, let's finish this game already so Namine won't be even more mad than she already is," he said, not wanting a fight to transpire.

For the next few minutes, Axel's concentration was taken off of tormenting Riku, his favorite pastime, and his attention was devoted entirely to keeping his scarlet convertible from crashing. Unfortunately, it still looked as though Axel was going to lose the round, as Roxas' car neared the finish line. Frantically, Axel began smashing down random buttons on the keyboard, mumbling to his self all the while "Oh c'mon, I know this cheat code works somehow…"

"Hey! No cheating!" said Roxas indignantly, while his car went around the last turn of the course and was seconds away from winning.

"Too late," Axel smiled as his car was instantaneously placed at the finish line. This time it was the red convertible that had the privilege of completing a victory lap.

"That is so cheap! You can't do that!" said Roxas, angry because he had been conned out of another victory.

"I just did," said Axel, as they got ready for the third round.

"Don't bather trying to stop him, Roxas, cheating is how he survives," said Kairi, who was still annoyed at Axel for previously inconveniencing her.

As the third round started, Axel began again trying to press the succession of buttons that would make him win.

"How do you do that?" asked Roxas, also reaching for the keyboard, tying to push the same buttons that Axel had, while maneuvering his car around the track.

"Get your hands away from there!" shouted Axel, shoving Roxas' hands away from the keyboard.

Riku looked nervously at all of the button s being hammered down by Roxas' and Axel's hands, and noted the protesting beeping noises that were being emitted from the computer.

"That's probably not good," he said, wincing. Namine buried her face in her hands, in a gesture that clearly stated _'Why on earth did I agree to getting a new computer? Why? Dumb Namine! Dumb!' _Kairi was laughing at the sight of Axel and Roxas fighting each other for complete domination of the keyboard, and Sora was eating the rest of his apple with an amused expression on his face.

All of a sudden, there was a loud crash and smoke filled the room. Axel and Roxas immediately ceased their arguing.

"Fire!" shouted Sora, seeing the smoke and not thinking very clearly.

"It wasn't me!" Axel denied it swiftly. "Besides, this isn't that kind of smoke, this is a different kind…"

"Like we should trust you about anything!" said Riku angrily, momentarily forgetting that if anyone in their party knew about smoke or fire, it was Axel. "We all know you aren't exactly the smartest person here! I mean, look what you've done now! Broke the computer, probably, which would explain this smoke. That thing was brand new, too! Axel, if I could see you, I'd strangle you!"

Axel, secretly thankful that Riku couldn't see because of the smoke, said, "Why are you so upset? Were you going out with the computer or something? There's no need to get so worked up over it!"

" Do you know how much that computer cost? Now I'M the one who has to get it repaired, with MY own munny!"

"Why isn't the smoke clearing?" asked Sora, a little nervously. " It should've cleared by now. I'm kind of getting a little uneasy."

As if to pacify Sora, the smoke slowly lifted to reveal their surroundings. They certainly weren't where they had started out, and the girls were nowhere in sight.


	2. The Glass Room

DISCLAIMER: _I can only imagine…_what I'd do if I owned Kingdom Hearts, but I don't _sigh _so on with the story!

Chapter Two, The Glass Room

Sora was the first to speak, the first one to voice the dread and confusion that all four were feeling. "W-Where are we?" he asked shakily, staring around in fear.

"We're in Scranton, Pennsylvania," replied Axel in a matter-of-fact voice, also looking around in alarm.

"Really?" said Sora disbelievingly.

"Of course not! How the-" Axel used some very colorful language to express his anger "- do you expect me to know?" We're just as clueless as you are, for once!" Axel snapped, anxiety making him edgy and spiteful.

"Watch it, Axel!" said Roxas warningly in reference to Axel's language. Axel merely shrugged. "It's not like your girlfriend, sweet innocent Namine, can hear me or anything."

Roxas clenched his fists, glaring daggers at Axel, but otherwise ignored his last comment. "I wonder where they are. Did anyone see where they went?"

"Um, no. In case you didn't realize, there was so much freaking smoke that I couldn't see the computer, which was a foot away from my face, let alone two girls that were on the other side of the room. Plus, we don't even know where **we** are, how do you expect us to find them?"

" Shut up, Axel! You're the one who got us into this mess in the first place. I _told_ you not to mess with that computer, but what do you do? Mess with it, and get us snatched away to wherever we are!" Riku snapped bitterly.

Axel looked indignant and insulted. "MY fault? You're joking! I knew _exactly_ what I was doing! Roxas was the one who didn't know how to work the cheat, and started to smash down buttons!"

"You shouldn't have been cheating! Besides, you _did not_ know what you were doing, either!"

"It doesn't matter who caused it," lied Sora. It DID matter, but he would deal with that after they got home. Right now, he couldn't have everyone arguing with each other. "All that matters is finding the girls and getting out of here,"

Their surroundings were dull and easy not to notice. The whole circular cavern that they were in didn't seem to be quite solid or safe, made up of dull gray platforms that were square-shaped.

Riku examined one of the platforms more closely, and then shook his head, perplexed. "I have no clue where we are or what happened to us," he said truthfully, which was highly unusual. Riku was rarely uncertain, and when he _was,_ he would never admit to it.

Roxas took a second look around. "This is going to sound crazy, but we couldn't be inside the computer, could we?" For a moment, the entire group stared at Roxas as though he needed to be admitted to the nearest available mental hospital, then-

"Hmm, you know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you were right," Sora looked thoughtful.

Riku continued to look puzzled. "I don't think that's possible, Roxas."

"No one thought it was possible that _I_ could return from…well...not the grave, but nothingness, and here I am. My Somebody probably got turned into a heartless again, I don't really know, but I suddenly find myself back here with everyone I knew or liked dead and gone, except Roxas, which explains why I'm here chatting with you right now." Axel smiled, not quite realizing that he was completely off topic.

Riku groaned in frustration. "So, basically, what we've learned from that pointless and completely irrelevant anecdote is that that all unpleasant things are possible. We probably _are_ stranded inside of this wretched computer with no way out,"

"Stop being so morbid! You're always such a pediatrist!" exclaimed Sora, who wasn't in the mood to hear bad news, such as he might never see his girlfriend or home again.  
" I think you mean pessimist," corrected Roxas with a slight grin, despite the current situation.

" Whatever," replied Sora, blushing a little. "Then what IS a pediatrist?

" Are we going to sit here talking about doctors and their specializations or are we going to find the girls and get out of here?" demanded Roxas, his grin fading at once at the thought of Namine wandering around, lost, frightened, and alone.

"Where do you suggest we look?" asked Axel, facing Roxas. "There's no where to go!"

" You can keep your nasty remarks to yourself! My point is that if we just sit here, we'll make an easy target, but if we keep moving, we have a lesser chance of being attacked and a greater chance of finding the girls."

" I can understand the part where you're worried about the girls, but why are you scared about something attacking us? Do you really think that there's anything in a computer that could conquer the four of us? I'm not all about unity or whatever, I'm just saying, but you, Sora, and Riku have _keyblades_! What are you three afraid of? And I'm so good that it's scary." Here Riku gave a small cough to most likely indicate skeptism, but Axel ignored him and continued with his speech. "If I were you, I'd be more worried about the girls then us, but even so Kairi can take care of herself reasonably well, but Namine…" Axel trailed off. Roxas caught his eye and he saw that the two of them were thinking the same thing; Namine was just about the sweetest person alive, but she could do no worse damage to an opponent then scream at them. Almost anything stronger then a cat could attack her and win.

"Let's move," said Roxas firmly, and this time there were no protests.

Kairi blinked as the smoke began to clear. Where was she? Namine gave a slight gasp from beside her. They were standing in a small room, made entirely out of what looked like glass. Outside, there was only more swirling grey fog, reaching out for what seemed like eternity. The room itself was practically empty, except for a small white end table, on which sat a pure white book, devoid of writing on the front cover. The only real burst of color in the whole room came from Kairi's auburn hair and vivid pink halter dress. Namine seemed to actually blend into the room, with her pale blue sundress and light blonde hair. She seemed so sweet and innocent, like a china doll, blending in with the wallpaper…that was how Namine liked it. Let Kairi be the social butterfly, she was more then happy to be a wallflower.

"Where are we?" asked Namine fearfully.

"I don't know," replied Kairi, sounding far more courageous than she actually was. What the heck had just happened? However, her voice was steady and controlled as she addressed Namine. "There's only one way to find out anything," Without further ado, Kairi headed off in the in the direction of the transparent door on the opposite end of the room.

"Wait!" called Namine, a little rattled by Kairi's abruptness. She grasped Kairi's arm. "Shouldn't we read that book? It might be able to tell us where we are, how we got here, where the boys are, how to get to them, and how to return home," Namine pointed at the small book that sat on the table. Kairi had almost forgotten it was there. Like Namine, the book seemed to actually be a part of the room.

"I don't think that book could possibly hold that much information," said Kairi, glancing doubtfully at the tiny book, which could've contained no more than ten pages. "It looks as though someone just left their old notebook here."

Namine shrugged at Kairi's comment and slowly walked over walked over to examine the book closer. Cautiously, she opened it, almost as though expecting something to leap out at her. However, nothing happened, and Namine let out a small sight of disappointment. It only contained about 7 pages of 0's and 1's, repeating in some sort of nonsensical order, it seemed to Namine.

"It's Binary code. Who writes in Binary code?" asked Namine, upset that the book had been of such little use.

"You mean besides a computer?" replied Kairi dryly. Why were they taking so long?

Namine eyes positively lit up. "Kairi, that's it! We're in the computer!"

Kairi knit her eyebrows. "So when Axel and Roxas were messing around with it, they broke it and we somehow ended up inside of it?" It was clear who she blamed for their current situation.

Namine shrugged again, still beaming " That's my assumption, because it kind of makes sense. But that also means that this book could tell us anything we needed to know about the computer, if we could read Binary code. You can't, can you?" Namine asked of Kairi with little hope.

Kairi shook her head no. " I thought Binary code was numbers, not a coded language…I remember Riku once tried to explain it to me, but I never really got the hang of it. He's the only one that might understand, or MAYBE Roxas, but I'm positive that Axel and Sora are even more clueless than us when it comes to-" Kairi broke off suddenly realizing something crucial. "The guys! Where are they?"

" Did you figure out that they were missing just now?" inquired Namine with a small smile.

" I mean to say that I obviously knew that they were missing, but I thought now that they could be ANYWHERE! Do you supposed they're in the computer, too?" Kairi asked Namine hopefully.

"I'd assume so, because Roxas and Axel are the ones who started this nonsense anyway, and if we got dragged into all of this, then Sora and Riku probably did too."

"Well, there's no point in just sitting around here, waiting for them to rescue us, is there? We might as well get moving and start looking for them. I'm certain that waiting isn't good enough right now." Kairi said impatiently, heading once more for the door. Couldn't Namine understand that they needed to get a move on?

"That is exactly what I knew you were going to say, Kairi," Said Namine with a smile on her face. "One problem, however. How are we going to fight any enemies if we run into them?"

Kairi grinned and made to pull out her keyblade that Riku had given her a few years ago. "Easy! I'll introduce them to- Wait, where's Calling Heart?" Kairi paused a moment, looking for her keyblade, Calling Heart, but it seemed to have vanished.

"I think Calling Heart is a little shy and doesn't want to be introduced right now," suggested Namine with and uncharacteristic smirk. Kairi glared. "Not funny! This is serious! Unless I find it, we don't stand a chance against any enemies!" Calling Heart had the unique power to release the souls from the dark, heartless forms that they were in and restore them to their natural, human state. (See _Calling Heart_, search Kingdom Hearts, main Character: Kairi. Written by one of the authoress' best friends, who likes to be known as Sweet Little Aris.#-)

"How are we going to defend ourselves now?" asked Kairi fearfully.

"Welcome to the wonderful world of being helpless – I've lived here all of my life," said Namine, who was used to being stranded and unable to fight. It rattled Kairi, however, to know that she was completely defenseless in an unknown world.

"C'mon, if we're going to find the guys, we'd better get started searching," said Kairi, trying to keep her mind off of what would happen if they ran into something unpleasant.

Namine paused for a moment, and tucked the book away in a pocket of her dress. "Roxas," she whispered to herself "I'll find you." Namine then hurried to fallow Kairi out of the room, eager to be reunited with Roxas and get home once more.

NOTE: I STILL need suggestions on what coupling to go with! So email me your opinion at gwin811 at yahoo .com with the title PAIRING, or leave a comment or review. I get tons of junk mail, so if it doesn't say PAIRING, I might throw it away on accident. Thanks, everyone!

#-This story may not yet be up on but I am urging my friend to get it up ASAP because I make several references to her series.


	3. The Problem, Part 1

DISCLAIMER: Place your left hand on the bible and raise you right arm

DISCLAIMER: Place your left hand on the bible and raise you right arm. Repeat after me…I do not own Kingdom Hearts… sigh Do I have to say it?

ALSO…Due to lack of interest on the audience's part, the couplings in this story may be interpreted in any way you'd like.

Chapter 3- The Problem, part one

As the guys continued walking, the darkness gradually faded into a bright, chipper light. The gray platforms beneath them, which Sora just realized would most likely be pixels, turned to a soft, mossy green.

"About time we get somewhere. I am _so sick _of walking around in circles," groaned Roxas exhaustedly rubbing his eyes. "I felt like I was going blind in there."

Sora mentally agreed, and plopped to the ground (thankfully grass once more) with a thud. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I need to take a break."

Riku, Roxas, Axel, and Riku all gave a confirmatory nod, fallowed Sora's lead, and stumbled down on the grass also, grateful for a break.

Presently, the group began to investigate their surroundings.

"Where are we now? We aren't... home, are we?" asked Sora, looking up at the blue cloudless sky above him.

"I wish we were, but we can't be. If you look closely, the ground is still, beneath the grass, divided into pixels." reminded Riku, the only one of the five that would have even thought of looking that closely at their surroundings.

Sora looked forlornly at the ground, then back at the horizon. Then he did a double tale. "Is that…? No…it _couldn't_ be!" Sora breathed disbelievingly.

"It IS!" proclaimed Roxas joyously leaping up and running towards the figure that had appeared in the distance. "I would know that profile anywhere! Kairi!"

Sora seemed somewhat dumbfounded, and rose to his feet, looking numb, like someone who had just awoken from a deep sleep. He looked uncertainly around at Riku and Axel, who were just now getting to their feet, Axel rather reluctantly.

"Is it?" Sora turned to Riku for confirmation. Riku only shrugged. "Could be."

That was enough for Sora. He ran towards her. Axel shook his head and walked to fallow. "Come on. We'd better go see what's up. Besides, if this is some sort of trap, we'd be the only ones who would actually think. Those two are too lovesick to realize anything."

Axel and Riku fallowed in the distance, wary to their surroundings, unlike the Sora and Roxas, who were overjoyed to see the girls once more.

Kairi looked in bemusement at the boy with dirty-blonde hair who was running towards her. Without warning he threw his arms around her. Kairi panicked. Who was this boy? Why was he hugging her? Kairi hurriedly pulled away. Who did he think he was?

The boy looked puzzled at her resistance. "Oh, I'm sorry, Kairi. You probably want to see Sora first, right?" his tone was sweet, but there was slight bitterness behind it.

Another boy came fallowing the first. This boy had brown hair and brilliant blue eyes that were filled with exhaustion and concern. "Kairi?" he asked.

Kairi had been too afraid to speak up until this point, but now her curiosity overcame her fear. "How do you know my name?" she whispered.

The boy named Sora blinked. "Kairi? Are you kidding? C'mon, Kairi!" He voice was pleading.

" I- I can scream really loud, and I know how to fight, so don't get any ideas about kidnapping me!" said Kairi, her voice shaking.

Sora looked at her, looking very upset. Kairi wanted to comfort him, but she reminded herself that it was most likely a trick, like when a strange man asks if you would like some candy. You NEVER accept. NEVER fall for those tricks. Kairi was no fool. "Kairi, don't you remember me?"

The blonde boy pushed foreword. "You remember me, right Kairi? Roxas? You know me!" His voice was also beseeching.

Kairi saw two more people appear, who looked taller than the first two. She began to panic slightly. "Namine!" she yelled.

Namine came running towards her. "What, Kairi?" then she saw the boys. "Oh," she breathed.

NAMINE!" said Sora, running to her. Namine shied away, like a puppy that has been kicked too many times to trust anyone. Sora slowly backed away, and turned to the boy who had approached, the one with silver hair. "What's _wrong _with them? They don't remember us!"

Riku didn't answer Sora's question, but instead turned to the girls. " Who are you?" he asked slowly and clearly, as though they were from another country and couldn't understand English.

Before Kairi could stop her, Namine blurted, "I'm Namine, and this is Kairi. Please, we didn't do anything wrong! What do you want with us?"

"Namine!" Kairi hissed, "Don't tell you name to strangers!"

"We're not strangers!" said the redhead who had walked up behind Riku. "Kairi, Namine, what is WRONG with you?"

Riku continued to talk to the girls. "Could you excuse us for a minute?" he asked.

Kairi nodded. The idea of strangers knowing her name scared her, but for some reason, she couldn't help trusting them.

While Riku's back was turned, Namine leaned over and whispered to Kairi. "Hey, that Riku, or whatever his name is, is kind of cute." Kairi giggled softly. "Eh, he's okay, but the redhead is really the cute one out of the group."

Namine gave her a weird look. "You think?"

"What do you think is wrong with them?" asked Roxas anxiously.

" I have no idea…do you think maybe they hit their heads?" inquired Sora.

"Or got attacked?" suggested Roxas.

"Or struck by lightening!" offered Sora wildly.

"Or got kidnapped and brainwashed?" Said Roxas, not to be outdone.

"Or maybe they jumped off of a cliff and got brought back from the dead!" said Axel mockingly. "Oh PLEASE! Will you two listen to yourselves! You're acting ridiculous!"

"Easy for you to say! You don't care what happens to them!" burst out Roxas hotly.

"Calm down, Roxas" said Riku. "Look, let's just ask the girls to come with us…maybe they'll remember as time passes."

"Okay…" said Sora unsteadily. "And if they don't?"

Riku looked worried also. " I don't know."

**Really short I know but I wanted to get uploading because my account is giving me some trouble. This was originally one chapter, but I divided it into two sections because I wasn't able to type it all up fast enough. With any luck Part 2 will be out soon!**

_**Also I am sharing this account with my friend named Michelle. Is you see any stories under this account with this () symbol next to it, it is one of hers**_


	4. The Problem, Part 2

DISCLAIMER: I am lucky; I own a Mac, a bike, hair elastics… Kingdom Hearts, however, is not mine.

Chapter 4- The Problem, part two

Sora, Roxas, Riku, and Axel were all lying in the grass, looking up towards the sky. The place where they were looked so ordinary that it seemed cruel. It was taunting them by saying that it could practically be their own world.

'_Only there are a million differences'_ Sora thought to himself, as he gazed up at the night sky. Wherever they were there was not a single star in the night sky. It was an unnatural inky black, exactly the way Sora felt.

Kairi barely looked at him throughout the entire day, as well as Namine. Despite his attempts to get her to remember him, Kairi had not remembered anything whatsoever. She otherwise seemed the same, except she lacked any recollection of them. Namine was the same, if not worse. She seemed so distant with Sora, who'd she'd always been so open with.

"So they haven't remembered us yet…will they ever?" asked Sora of the others, a little fearful of the answer.

" I'm not even sure if it IS them anymore. They seem so…clueless," said Roxas worriedly.

"Wait," said Axel, holding up a hand and smirking "I thought you knew that profile _anywhere_."

"That's just it; they're exactly the same, except they don't remember anything," said Roxas, not to be put out by Axel's sarcasm.

"Maybe it's Castle Oblivion all over again," suggested Riku, rolling over to look at Namine and Kairi.

Roxas shook his head no. "No, we're in a computer. It's not going to erase your memory."

"How do you know?" Axel asked, propping himself up on one arm.

Sora sighed and looked at the starless sky. It was going to be a long and lonely night.

Kairi lay on the scratchy grass and tried to get comfortable. A gentle wind rustled her hair. Beside her Namine sighed contentedly. Kairi looked over about twenty feet away where the guys were conversing in low voices. Kairi still asked herself why she had come with them in the first place. Although they looked completely foreign, she couldn't help but trust them. Something about them gave her a sense of security.

Not to mention the incredibly cute redhead.

"Why are we with them, Kairi?" Namine asked, as if reading her thoughts. That was the way they were. They were so close they were practically sisters.

"Why not? They almost…remind me of someone. I just can't think of who," Kairi responded. "They keep saying that we've lost our memories, and are really their friends. Maybe I want to know if that was real: if we were ever friends with them. They feel so familiar, and I just want to know the truth about them. And look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't like that Riku guy."

Namine giggled. "Yes, but it isn't often that we decide to pack up and go with any random stranger that walks bye and knows our names, know what I mean?"

Kairi nodded. "You're right. This is probably really stupid. Let's stay with them one more day. If we still don't remember anything, we'll leave. If they try to keep us here, we scream."

The sun rose to find everyone except Roxas fast asleep. He sat, his head in his hands, contemplating what was going on. How could he sleep when Kairi and Namine were so…_different_? What was _wrong_ with Namine and Kairi? _What_ had happened to them? Why couldn't they remember? They'd always been such good friends…was this some sort of cruel joke?

Beside him, Axel sat up and yawned. "Whoa, it's cold," Axel shivered slightly and got to his feet.

"Not really." It was a slightly cool sort of day, a bit damp. "Should we wake them up?" Roxas gestured towards the girls, who were a sleep a little bit away. They looked calm and peaceful. Exactly like the Kairi and Namine would look in real life. Roxas shook himself. _'What am I_ talking_ about? This _is _real life!' _he thought. The stress was making him crazy.

Axel, who apparently was indifferent to the situation, shrugged. "Sure."

They walked over to where the girls lay. Gently leaning over her, Roxas gently shook Kairi. "Wake up, princess," he said, hoping that the use of his old nickname might spark some memory.

Kairi opened her eyes with a smile on her face. The smile faded, however, when she say Roxas standing over her. A look of disappointment crossed her face instead. Roxas felt upset himself. She used to smile when she'd seen him…why the sudden change? Why was he now a disappointment, instead of her friend?

Kairi's smile was polite as she sat up. "Good morning, Roxas," she said kindly. She turned to Axel and her smile widened slightly. "Good morning, Axel."

Axel, still unnerved by the fact the Kairi was being perfectly friendly to him, looked very wrong-footed. "Good morning?" he responded warily.

Kairi got to her feet, brushing herself off. "Wake up, Namine!" She said joyously. She was very chipper and clearly a morning person. Her eyes sparkled and she looked energized, exactly as her real self would.

_'Real Self?' _There he went again, as though this were some sort of game.

Namine slowly opened her eyes. Then she rolled over and sighed. "I was having such a nice dream," she said to the ground, but she got to her feet.

"Good morning!" Sora smiled, walking over, Riku at his heels.

"Oh, hello," Namine smiled, her whole manner changing at once. She was positively beaming.

"What?" demanded Riku of Namine, confused about why she wouldn't stop smiling at him.

"What?" responded Namine innocently, moving closer.

"What?" asked Roxas angrily. What did she think she was doing?

"What?" questioned Sora, who had noticed nothing and was only now tuning into the conversation.

"Huh?" asked Axel, breaking the trend.

"There's no way your Namine," Sora stated in dumb disbelief at the blonde girl who kept on winking at Riku. "If you were, I would KILL you Riku." 

Riku shrugged. "I didn't ask for this…I can't help these stunning good looks, you know."

Axel scoffed. "_Good looks?_ Nonexistent good looks maybe…and what do _you_ want?" he asked Kairi (was it really her?), who giggled and smiled.

Axel stared. "No. Way." He turned to Roxas. "I think you were actually right about them…there is no way this is Kairi."

Roxas didn't answer. He subconsciously clenched his fists.

Kairi leaned against Axel, smiling. Axel, looking as though he had been punched in the face, moved away. Kairi again closed the distance between them.

Axel looked at Roxas, looking for a clue as what to do. Roxas just glared. This would be hilarious if it wasn't Kairi…

At that moment, there were yells and an angry horde of people can running at them.

"What have we done _now_?" asked Sora, eyeing the leader of the mob anxiously.

"IMPOSTERS!" shrieked the girl with short black hair and chocolate brown eyes. "Lock them up! Squall!"

A man with dark brown hair and a menacing-looking sword proceeded to the front of the group. "My name is _Leon_," he corrected her. A blonde man dressed in all black came up behind him, also looking ready for a fight.

"Leon! Cloud!" Sora called with relief. "Thank god it's you! You have to help us-"

"How do you know my name?" asked Cloud suspiciously.

"I told you! They're spies!" yelled Yuffie, for that's who the excitable girl with the black hair was. "Throw them in jail!"

"We- what?" asked Riku, also confused.

'_Wow,' _thought Roxas as Cloud approached him, waving his sword '_maybe this is more serious than we thought!'_ That was his last conscious thought before Cloud raised his sword over his head and brought it crashing down. The world went black.


End file.
